This webzine is online since August 2010 and is completely dedicated to Electronic Music (EM) identified as the Berlin School style and its derived. You will find interviews but mostly reviews of ambient, sequenced and symphonic EM with a glimpse on other related genres. You have questions or want your music to be reviewed? Please read the 123 FAQ section attentively. Bear in mind the main purpose of this Blog. So welcome in and I hope it will guide you into the wonderful world of EM.

dimanche 30 octobre 2016

“Pleonasms is another fantastic voyage through times where we dive back in these great years when the charms of the analog were competing the coldness of the digital”

1 Pleonasms 4:122 Fluctuation 12:273 Calybration 7:584 Atemporal Dispersion 11:195 Soliloquy 6:426 Cool Sands of Vermillion 16:11Perge Music(CD/DDL 59:00) ****(Berlin School)Perge is sticking to their guns! Having dusted the old recordings dating of the 70’s and the 80’s with Aural Coefficients Within a Fractal Plane, appeared last February, the English duet which was one of the most important in the virtual universe of EM to the 70’s through the 90’s, gets back on the train in order to present us another recording which was one of the most popular on the market of bootleggers (who did not hear The Undulated Soundtrack For Phantasy' and 'Space & Sfears?); “Pleonasms”. I adore the double-sense of this title which is the 9th official album of Perge and which was recorded at the famous Preston Guild Hall and then at the Brighton Dome in England. These two places were also known to have been the witnesses of electrifying performances in November 80, for the Guild Hall, and in March 86, for the Brighton Dome, by none other than Tangerine Dream.The title-track rouses our ears already in appetite with a heavy introduction loaded of whirlwinds of cosmic waves where from emanate thousands of bubbles of oxygen and thin lines of voices without souls. These effects of electronic ambiences reach a good level of intensity as the broth which guide "Pleonasms" pours into "Fluctuation". The noises of crowd become rumors while the sounds of gong announce the awakening of this concert given at the Preston Guild Hall. The atmospheres remain dark when lost chords fall. A rather lively line of sequences copies the rhythm of a train which spits its pace under the itches of the small elytrons of metal. We are at the right place! Rolling of percussions get in at the same time as the synth layers, molded in harmonious riffs, and some very airy solos. "Fluctuation" becomes then in permutation of rhythm. The train mislays its sequences in another more nervous line and the percussions become more steady. Other synth layers are crossing the atmospheres, welcoming in their ethereal flights some very nice solos where effects of flutes and of foggy voices pepper our imagination, otherwise our desire to hear those effects. And quite slowly, under these layers and riffs which sound strangely like Tangerine Dream (to place well the reader), "Fluctuation" goes towards a finale which inhales its opening begun in "Pleonasms". For those who are eager of comparisons, and there are, "Calybration" is molded in the ashes of Calymba Caly but with a better sound quality. Perge does a very good dust removal from this classic where a line of sequences rises and falls, drawing a hypnotic spiral which is convenient to some very good synth solos. Sequences in the form of castanets, that we hear for the first time, are completely delicious for my ears always starving for novelties and for additional sound effects.Effects and synth twists lead us to an unedited track played during this concert, the very good "Atemporal Dispersion". A movement of sequences goes up and goes down, binding itself at a meshing of bass pulsations and electronic percussions. The atmospheres are of silk with a load of synth layers and of harmonies stylized under the forms of solos, while a keyboard takes the lead for the real harmonious portion. The chords are sharp and are like a blade on a rhythm which quivers in its structure of vertical spiral which hiccups in series. Awesome! Little by little the large amount of effects and other percussions are redirecting "Atemporal Dispersion" towards a more cosmic electronic rock phase with an approach which has doubtless influenced the Tangerine Dream of the 80’s. The solos are wonderful and flutter like singings of astral mermaids on a structure as much lively as immensely dense and which at times reveals the influences of Calymba Caly. A piano and a very melancholic synth cover the finale, Matthew Stringer settles down at the piano and offers us the very moving "Soliloquy": a small jewel which drew its delicacy from Tangram and which doubtless has served as inspiration for the superb Song of the Whale Pt II… to Dusk of the album Underwater Sunlight. This piano stretches its melody beyond the borders of "Cool Sands of Vermillion", where a surprising fusion between Vermillion Sands and Cool Breeze of Brighton waits for our ears as much disbeliever as fascinated by Matthew Stringer's guitar and these solos of Graham Getty's synth which spin like metallic fireflies on a fiery pattern of a hyper active sequences. Great track!“Pleonasms”? It’s another fantastic voyage through times and at high volume, we dive back in these great years when the charms of the analog were competing the coldness of the digital.Sylvain Lupari (October 30th, 2016)gutsofdarkness.com & synthsequences.blogspot.ca

vendredi 28 octobre 2016

“Salvaging The Present is an album as fascinating as difficult to tame where it's necessary to persevere in order to discover all its wealth, all its depth”

1 To the End of Elations 8:292 Micro Souls Anthem 8:183 Pagoda Tiempo 9:364 Never the Sacred Stretch 7:585 Night Arch 7:516 Blue Mesa 6:577 The Purity of Season 279E 8:258 Whisper Country 6:249 Regret in G (The Sky Remembers) 6:02Spotted Peccary | SPM-1702(CD 70:04)***½(Psybient, Experimental Electronica and film music)Atypical and not really easy to tame, “Salvaging The Present” is this kind of album which seduces by its atmospheres and its texture well before its structures of rhythms or its melodic patterns. In fact, it's the sound aestheticism which will attract the ears curious to rub themselves in a style of ambient Electronica ambient and at the least very experimental. Pushing the boldness up to the bottom of our eardrums, Dean De Benedictis weaves a universe of sounds where are spawning many pieces of rhythms and of melodies which pop out from everywhere but not were expected. And each time, our senses, our ears and our judgment always stay in the limits of questioning."To the End of Elations" begins with a relative intensity. Knockings and layers of synth, guitar chords and felted explosions, voices and radioactive waves form the genesis of this opening title where everything is drawn from a world that we consider futuristic, so much the perfumes of Vangelis and his Blade Runner embalm the atmospheres. A form of rhythm emerges at the edge of 150 seconds. While notes of piano unfold a veil of nostalgia, the percussions are awakening quietly this very industrial down-tempo and whose lively structure is decorated by an acoustic six-strings as well as these strange cooings of the synth. A little more vigorous and immensely nebula, the structure of rhythm is wrapped up in a stunning sound mosaic where our ears have difficulty to count the effects and the instruments used and which make of "To the End of Elations" a fascinating opening for “Salvaging The Present”. At times that sounds like a music theme, while at other moments that sounds like a very good psybient, as melancholic as melodic. I don't say that we hook straight away, but our ears, as long as that they are attentive, have found a pretty good sonic gold mine. That continues with the small knocks of bursts of the percussions which open the structure a little bit Ska of "Micro Souls Anthem". The line of bass spits its snores of which the amplitudes resound on a bed of agitated percussions and get lost in layers voices filled of lunar prism. There are some flashes of Patrick O'Hearn which slumber in this structure which aims to be the most lively, except for the finale, of “Salvaging The Present”. Afterward, we enter the unknown! "Pagoda Tiempo" offers a long structure of atmospheres rich in sound effects and in effects of intensity. There also we can easily tie a link with a dark futuristic music theme like Blade Runner or still The City. "Never the Sacred Stretch" is the most interesting title of this strange mosaic of sounds. A structure of rhythm knotted in intensity tries constantly to hatch in an ambiance which is near of the nocturnal madnesses forced by a too big dose of hallucinogens. The rhythm (can we call that rhythm?) explodes from we don't know where and takes a ghost shape out of the unknown. Except that the evolution and the changes of sonic scene are completely delicious. It's as brilliant as awesome! "Night Arch" proposes a structure of dark ambiences which is going to remind you the first albums of Tangerine Dream with its electrified rhythms which quiver by impulses.If we like the dark ambient of Steve Roach, kind of Immersion series, "Blue Mesa" will please you! The rather telepathic universe of "The Purity of Season 279th" is a little disturbing with these sound waves which look for elements of radioactivity and these voices which whisper in order to feed a kind of paranoia. The music here is also very filmic with a violin which drags its melancholic sighs in the shadow of a bass line which crawls like the best titles of movie music from Patrick O'Hearn. The finale is more oniric, like the introduction of "Whisper Country" where a delicate carousel of arpeggios shines in a kind of ballad for imps. Here, as everywhere on this last album of the one who has so much seduced the aficionados of the Ambient Berlin School with his Surface 10 project, the rhythms come from where? We just don't know! And they take an unknown shape in a mass of sound effects as much attractive than intriguing. A little as a kind of very morphic down-tempo with percussions which click and a violin coated of a sad melody from Asia. "Regret in G (The Sky Remembers)" concludes this fascinating album from Dean De Benedictis with a structure of rhythm knotted in the ritenuto with effects of bass which want to explode like the firing of a crossbow in a dense veil of cloudiness. The atmospheres are very Steve Roach, as in "Blue Mesa", but with a rhythmic genesis which eventually dried up its knocks to evaporate themselves in the tears of a violin. There is of all in here, as in each corner of “Salvaging The Present”. Chords of a guitar perfumed of a little Country music, Layers of voices and of synths and these percussions which sound like worn out hoofs. In brief, an album as fascinating as difficult to tame where it's necessary to persevere in order to discover all its wealth, all its depth. In fact, and even if it's not totally my kind, I have quite enjoyed this first meeting with the music of Dean De Benedictis and his “Salvaging The Present”. What do you want! We have to know how to widen our horizons!Sylvain Lupari (October 28th, 2016)

mercredi 26 octobre 2016

“Ouf!!! What an amazing album which blends marvelously the ambient side with soft trance and hypnotic beats”

1 Follow the Ancestors' Path 17:072 Don't Trust the Sirens 5:493 In a Quiet Reverie 12:014 Midnight at the Lake 2:335 Let Them Float 16:44Generator
PL. GEN CD039(CD 54:14) ****½(Mix of Prog E-Music and deep ambient soundscapes)Przemyslaw Rudz remains one of these still too much unsung artists, and it in spite of a magnificent discography who, year after year, brings some beautiful small jewels out of his studio. The sound aestheticism being always there, it's in the comfort of our earphones that we shall savour this wonderful “Let Them Float”. Wrapped up in a very beautiful digipack pocket, where a child watches a whale floating among hot-air balloons, this last sound fresco from the Polish musician/synthesist is a small jewel for the ears with its rhythms of meditative trances and its esoteric ambiences which lead us near to the astral meditation. And the album starts rather strongly!A slow rhythm seized our ears enthralled and amazed by such an opening. Percussions plough this soft rhythm which sounds like a good rock tinted with a sensuality of the blues. These percussions bang with heaviness and fluidity, amassing at the passage some electronic noises (chirpings) and some floating waves which tug our senses between the domination of the rhythm or the fascination for these electronic elements which abound in a luxuriant psychotronic color. Slowly, the percussions accelerate the pace with the arrival of a bass line. And the synth frees gorgeous songs that some electronic ornaments caress softly. The approach is as well melancholic as languishingly hypnotic. And one thing leading to another, Przemyslaw Rudz weaves a superb minimalist structure with elements as striking as these tears of synth which flow into the whispers of electronic hummingbirds. And this rhythm becomes heavier and more fluid. As a trance where dozens of trunks toss to the sound of a bewitching rhythm. And if we are not enthralled yet, the 8th minute will finish our resistance with an approach where the tribal essence is dancing with a rock which always stays prisoner of an astral envelope. The riffs which fall gives a more progressive approach that the effects always dominate still and still. It's beautiful. Very beautiful! The 17 minutes of "Follow the Ancestors ' Path" appear among the most beautiful minutes that the music, and it whatever the genre, has offered me over time. A minimalist and a progressive rhythm flooded in a ton of sound effects which is impossible to seize in a single listening, the recipe is as well simple as terribly effective. It's obvious that after such a nirvana, we become more critical in face of what is coming next. Brilliant, Przemyslaw Rudz knew how to put things in perspective by bringing us in long segment of atmospheres which begins with "Don't Trust the Sirens". Their chants are angelic, almost aphrodisiac, in an envelope which equals the splendid production of Fresh Aire 6 from Mannheim Steamroller. The very peaceful "In a Quiet Reverie" with rumbling layers which irradiate the dark side of a whales' dialogue leads us towards another level of ambiospherical enchantment. The dialogues of cetaceans take various forms with a beautiful play of the synth which diffuses the colors of solemnity as well as those of happiness. The mixture of these elements to a cosmic essence make of these 12 minutes, rather quiet by the way, something more interesting and more thoughtful to listen."Midnight at the Lake" is a nice little morphic ballad with a synth which cheers up our ears with sung solos which remain frozen in crystal chords which pearl and float in the oblivion. There are influences of Jarre over the birdsongs here! After these some 20 minutes of ambiospherical moods, the long title-track closes “Let Them Float” with a pulsatory rhythm which pierces a thick cloud of sonic fantasies where synth solos, or the e-violin of Rafal Szydlowski, are twisting in a mass of lugubrious drones. The structure is close to that of "Follow the Ancestors ' Path" but in a more progressive envelope soaked with layers of voices. The influences of Pink Floyd abound here, in particular at the level of the keyboard and of the tones of guitar. There was no other better ways to conclude this titanic work of Przemyslaw Rudz. What an album my friends!Sylvain Lupari (October 26th, 2016)gutsofdarkness.com & synthsequences.blogspot.caYou will find a way to order or dowload this album on the Bandcamp page of P. Rudz hereOr by visting the web shop of Generator PL here

lundi 24 octobre 2016

“To my worn-out ears this Tribute To Jean-Michel Jarre is one of the most intelligent done in these uncountable remix and tribute to Jarre that I heard”

1 Equinoxe Part 1 1:382 Chronology Part 6 6:423 Equinoxe Part 4 4:524 Oxygene Part 2 5:005 Equinoxe Part 7 3:546 Magnetic Fields Part 1 4:147 Magnetic Fields Part 2 3:588 Souvenir de Chine 3:589 Oxygene Part 4 3:2810 Oxgene Part 11 4:3111 Second Rendez Vous 4:1812 Oxygene Part 7 3:4713 Fourth Rendez Vous 6:03AD
Music| AD186CD(CD/DDL 55:23) ***½(Synth-Pop and Cosmic French School)Am I wrong or the Halloween, the night of masks, is for this October 31st? I light innocently the question because Glenn Main has already found his costume and disguises himself like Jean Michel Jarre the time of an album, “Tribute To Jean-Michel Jarre”. And let me tell you that the costume is more than successful! The influence of the French musician always guided the music of Glenn Main since he heard Oxygene and Equinoxe at the age of 9. Equinox Part 1 was his first very favorite and the title played non-stop on his tape recorder. About 20 years farther and six albums at his credit later, all influenced by the music of Jarre, Glenn Main breaks the ice and plunges into an album which redoes the biggest successes and by ricochet the music he loves the most of the famous French musician. Yes! An umpteenth album tribute to Jarre! The problem is that with all these albums, official or not, which paid tribute to Jarre or which redo his music in the form of uncountable remix, is there any more room for another album of the genre? I'm asking the question to you because I have never managed to stand none of these albums and this no matter the forms. So this “Tribute To Jean-Michel Jarre” from Glenn Main? Well...It goes down a little better. Doubtless because we have the tiny conviction that it's Jarre himself who retouches, with an extreme delicacy, this collection of 12 titles to which we listen to rather well I have to say.Credit where credit's due, it is with this title which has so much obsessed the young Glenn Main Henriksen that is opening “Tribute To Jean-Michel Jarre”. It's those delicate cosmic waves, rolling and rolling non-stop, which sharpen our ears with the opening track "Equinox Part 1". If the effects are almost similar, the sound of the synths remind us that we are into a tribute album here. But that remains well done. How many of remix of dance and trance were made of the music of Jarre? The version of "Chronology Part 6" belongs to this category. It's a moderated techno with a great sequencing pattern which exploits nice organic tones on a lively beat where the dance music and techno for marinated zombies are flirting marvelously. The voices are more silky and the harmonies of the synth are just a little bit different so that we appreciate Glenn Main's boldness. And the sequencer is very contagious! The version "Equinox Part 4" offers some more lively jerks. We are always in the territories of dance music where the harmonies are very close to the authentic. "Equinox Part 7 " is made in the same mold but with a wilder approach. The versions of "Magnetic Fields Part 1" and "Magnetic Fields Part 2" also offer more aggressive, more energetic structures of rhythms with a very good play of percussions, especially in "Magnetic Fields Part 2". And always, the harmonies are redone with a fair precision. What amazes the most on this album, it is that we really have the impression that it is Jarre himself who reworks his music. I like the version of "Oxygene Part 2". Glenn Main manages to keep the cosmic essence while injecting a rhythm of dance on which I would not be ashamed to dance on. It's done correctly. "Souvenir de Chine" has more soul here, more melancholy than on the original version. For me, "Oxygene Part 4" is a monument. A big piece that Glenn Main dares to reinterpret and I prefer the original, although that the Norwegian synthesist stays closer there but something is missing, or something is of much. "Oxgene Part 11" is the more trance, the more trash title of this collection. I don't know if Glenn Main wants to give a wink to these DJ and these makers of hyper modulated and noisy techno, but it's very noisy and rather irritating for my ears worn out since 1958. But I imagine that the fans of the genre are going to adore. "Second Rendez Vous", as as well "Fourth Rendez Vous", propose also these structures of boosted rhythms which we recognize on the late. The harmonies and the synths always remain faithful, in particular in the festive finale of "Second Rendez Vous"."Oxygene Part 7" offers a more danceable approach here. I stayed of ice, but that was the same thing for the original. I love a lot on the other hand the version of "Fourth Rendez Vous" with a more audacious approach of the sequencer. Not bad at all!So, did I enjoyed this “Tribute To Jean-Michel Jarre” concocted by Glenn Main? I guess so, even that at some points I was pleasantly enchanted. Glenn Main brushes the dance and techno approaches but without going for any reasons into those endless bang-bang boom-boom which distort too much the essence of remix. And it's doubtless the big strength, at least to my ears, of this album the tribute from Glenn Main. One of the most intelligent albums in these uncountable remix and tribute to Jarre that I heard!Sylvain Lupari (October 24th, 2016)

samedi 22 octobre 2016

“Fears is a strong album loaded of dark moods and those hypnotic beats which make the charms of Remy. A solid album which exposes aptly the depths of its meaning!”

1 Fear 1: Fears 13:042 Fear 2: The Unknown 12:543 Fear 3: Reality 8:234 Fear 4: Terror 9:425 Fear 5: Extreme Weather 11:426 Fear 6: Death 7:527 Fear 7: Cataclysm 9:32CD Bonus (Already out of stock!)1 Fears: Prologue 23:35Deserted Island Music |
DIM-005 (D)(CD 73:09) ****½(Dark and hypnotic New Berlin School)The fears! How to put in music the fears in a rather realistic way and without falling in the traps of a dark music which goes in all directions without ever deepening one? That's the challenge of Remy! Of the one who since the release of the amazing Exhibition of Dreams, back in 1999, doesn't stop exploring these territories where the dreams and the nightmares are exchanging our wills. First solo album since i-Dentity in 2011, “Fears” succeeds very well to torment us. So much that the first listening throws a kind of discomfort disturbing between our ears.The title-track leads us right away in the atmospheres of “Fears”. A thick sonic fog widens its disturbing shroud from where inhale the groans of a strange machine which creates these vapors which slow down our steps in the paths of cemeteries. We feel the blackness invading us while the spectres hum in symbiosis with these hummings. Delicate arpeggios weave a melody of which the minimalist charms are as well intrusive as magnetic. The procession of "Fears" is quite smoothly made. Remy puts down these traps which pursue the subconscious while some pulsations liven up a rhythm which is slowly born. Strings caress these atmospheres while the procession is decorated of an uncomfortable musicality, a little as if the slow staccato of the cellos warned us that spectres are blowing in our neck. A line of sequences loosens its keys which skip as giant steps in a forest densely smothered by mist. This lento movement increases a bit the pace, but more in the intensity than in vigor, creating an emotional dizziness which embraces at any time the progression of an insanity arisen from the fear. "Fear 2: The Unknown" adopts a little this principle of crescendo of the fear with an introduction filled of mist which resounds and which hides the incantations of a mist machine. The whole thing introduces even a slow rhythm fed by the loops of the impulses. A line of synth rises to evaporate a harmony which floats between the strata of our emotions, a little as the hymn of discomfort blown by a specter. Another line, tinted by the harmonies of a harpsichord, plunge our frenzies up to the doors of the majestic Exhibition of Dreams. More atmospheric than rhythmic, "Fear 2: The Unknown" draws his its charm from the ghostly lamentations of the synth and the impulses of a bass line which crawls in the background. The melody? As much disturbing as the memories of the movie Halloween, it insinuates itself into our senses like the fear can stick to the skin with an effect of crescendo which makes beat our temples with the same intensity as these sequences which skip with hostility while "Fear 2: The Unknown" tramples our senses with the same Machiavellian approach as these jingles of chains that we have just noticed. The more we move forward and the more this electronic symphony on fears spreads its tentacles with a surprising reality. "Fear 3: Reality" is a wonderful piece of music with a very slow tempo where are roaming the notes of a piano terrified by the singings of a Diva who has just died recently. The effect is hyper striking here. This is very good and especially very effective. I adore and I am certain to have heard this hymn to fear in some of my nightmares."Fear 4: Terror" is a title of atmospheres with a Mephistophelian choir which hums on a bed of arpeggios as quiet as a lullaby for sleepless. "Fear 5: Extreme Weather" rolls a little on the same Machiavellian principle of dark ambient music while proposing a delicate rhythm which skips on a carpet of sulfur. Effects stain this pensive march with a concert of distant voices, such as the shouts of the afterlife that we just don't want to hear. A beautiful movement of sequences loosens a circular rhythm which is as much discreet as these chords which shape since the opening a kind of procession towards the afterlife. It's a title as troubling as "Fear 2: The Unknown" in a structure to which it's necessary to take time to listen to. Another title of horror ambiences, "Fear 6: Death" proposes a very slow tempo weaved by endless frictions of cellos which terrify our senses. Some clappings flutters all over this procession of in between-world, while that a bass line abandons gradually our footsteps. "Fear 7: Cataclysm" is the most complex title in “Fears”. The impulses of bass weave a rather slow harmonious rhythm. The strings are always so oppressive and the sound decoration always so penetrating. A line of bass sequences makes spin its keys at the same time as the jingles of cymbals get out of the darkness. Keeping its melody of submission in the background, "Fear 7: Cataclysm" is changing of skin and becomes more electronic with a multitude of effects and sequences which feed a kind of anarchy. A little as if we got rid of the influence of the fears or as if we were swallowed by it. The album also comes with a CD containing a title of 23 minutes, "Fears: Prologue". At the time of writing these lines the special edition would be out of print. But in any case... Here the atmospheres are less disturbing, except for the piano, and the approach is resolutely more electronic and especially more ventilated. We are in the territories of Klaus Schulze of the 80's with a long minimalist structure embroidered around a hopping movement of sequences which leans on the increasing pulsations of a good bass line. The synth injects pattern of a melody which we will notice especially in the 2nd and a piano scatters the crumbs of a more disturbing melody. This procession strikes a wall of tranquility at around the 11th minute, introducing a more acoustic approach with an a little more improvised piano and more ethereal atmospheres before returning to its structure of base. Divided into two tomes, one touches “Fears” with delicacy. If the first 30 minutes are convincing, the following ones ask for a more intuitive listening so much the atmospheres are in the heart of a romance between fear and madness. But the musicality, which is the big strength of this album of ambiences, and the effects which surround it chase away rather fast this shyness to live for a few minutes in the mouth of all fears. A solid album which exposes aptly the depths of its meaning. Hat to you Remy!Sylvain Lupari (October 22th, 2016)

mercredi 19 octobre 2016

“Best Of is indeed the best way to discover the great world of Cosmic Hoffmann, an iconic figure in EM and in the Krautrock Kosmik Musik style”

1 Howling Wolves 8:082 Shiva Connection 10:393 Hypnotic 5:084 Opera Mellotronique 7:515 The Call of Gullu 10:416 The Gate of Bihar 6:037 Sehr Mystisch 5:538 Spacewards 12:379 Crab Nebula 7:39AD Music ‎– AD165CD(CD-r/DDL74:43) ****½(Mix of vintage Berlin School and Krautrock Kosmik Musik)That feels great to hear again the very beautiful music of Cosmic Hoffmann, of Klaus Hoffmann-Hoock. Although this brilliant guitarist and synthesist founder of Mind Over Matter is a little more discreet since the making of Hypernova, his last album including a collection of unpublished titles released in 2009, he remains an always symbolic character of EM as prove his multiple collaborations and his participation in the creation of digital Mellotron, the Memotron of the Manikin label. The AD Music label re-releases the albums of Cosmic Hoffmann (7 all in all) for the needs of the streaming platforms. “Best Of” is a re-release, without new mixing nor mastering, of the compilation album entitled Best of Cosmic Hoffmann which saw the light of day in 2012 on Klaus Hoffmann-Hoock's label, Heart and Mind.Composed in 1997, "Howling Wolves" sets the tone with a slightly jerky but rather fluid movement with a line of bass sequences which waves peacefully under layers of synth in the colors of Tangerine Dream in Desert Green and under the howlings of cosmic wolves. The approach is rather vintage with very warm tones which and with beautiful synth solos which coo in a mass of cosmicolectronic tones. The atmospheres are soft and the effects are near the psychotronic universe the 70's. It's a very good title stemming from the first album of Cosmic Hoffmann, Beyond the Galaxy. "Shiva Connection" presents us the very energetic side of Cosmic Hoffmann with a hyper jerky structure which parades as a train at a brisk pace in the interstellar landscapes. Other title and other structure of rhythm, "Hypnotic" changes of tone with a rhythm livened up by some motorik percussions which shake a nest of sequences skipping with fright. The synth spreads a mixture of charms as much of a flute and saxophone with beautiful harmonies, so giving an approach of hypnotic tribal trance to a title which reaches the aimed purpose. "Opera Mellotronique" doesn't really need presentation! It's exactly what we wish to hear of this master of Mellotron. Beautiful and ambient, one listens to it the eyes in the stars. The finale is magnificently captivating. Fine minimalist pulsations draw the rhythm slightly pulsatory but resolutely ambient of "The Call of Gullu". An avalanche of synth lines get entwine and unroll in a thick cloud of sound hoops from where escape solos and harmonies all carriers of the Krautrock Kosmik Musik seal. Always very comfortable with a Mellotron, Klaus Hoffmann-Hoock brings us in the dark spheres of la belle époque with a beautiful floating structure where voices and effects of enveloping layers remind us the sublime period of Tangerine Dream'sPhaedra. If we like those cosmic ambient phases, "Spacewards" will know how to fill our waits with a beautiful structure which too is not far from the Phaedra period but in a more cosmic envelope. "Sehr Mystisch" flirts a little with the structure of "Howling Wolves" with a wave-like movement and some rather piercing songs of synth. The effect of cosmos is always very present. "Crab Nebula" concludes this very representative collection of Cosmic Hoffmann with a structure which drifts as so comfortably than "Spacewards" and where the sweetness of the Mellotron and the beauty of the cosmicolectronic effects are as much inviting as the sweetness of Morpheus. There is a bit of Vangelis in this title for the effects of intensity which make rise a little the adrenalin of an eater of cosmic tones on the edge to fall asleep.We had lost Klaus Hoffmann-Hoock a little in the fog since a couple of years. And this initiative to put back on the map a piece of his immense career with his Cosmic Hoffmann project is completely justified. It's the best way to discover this brilliant artist and this “Best Of” describes aptly the styles and the approaches of this iconic figure of the Krautrock Kosmik Musik style.Sylvain Lupari (October 19th, 2016)

lundi 17 octobre 2016

“If we look for something different in EM, this new When IN-Side becomes OUT-Side from Syndromeda will answer to your needs”

1 Native Alien Meeting 27:102 Upside Down 15:133 Reproduction NOT Allowed 10:354 Back to Sub-Reality 16:02SynGate
‎| CD-R SS23(CD-r/DDL 69`02) ***½(Dark ambient and progressive vintage EM)A distant shadow settles a sound texture of ambiences. Dark ambiences which swap their hollow breezes for layers haloed of astral voices. Slow! It's with an epidemic slowness that develops the long introduction of this last opus of Syndromeda. Near celestial bodies, the sounds and tones take the appearances of the dreamer. On "Native Alien Meeting" Danny Budts has braided an alloy of industrial mechanism, hollow breezes and distant voices which float like a wreck across the intersidereal space. And not, Syndromeda did not change at all his sound signature. Dark ambiences, piercing shards of synth and radioactive sequences mixed with Tangerine Dream vintage sother equencing patterns liven up the 70 minutes of his last opus on the label SynGate. Flirting with the blackness of gaps, the synth lines roam like spectres come from far away. Set apart some pulsations and movements of layers which weave intense moments, the first 19 minutes of "Native Alien Meeting" are purely of ambiences and of dusts of noises. Percussions begin hammering discreetly under a mass of cosmic voices while the sequences sparkle of these organic tones that Syndromeda likes to give to his ambiences. In fact, all of the action for the senses takes place in the last 6 minutes of "Native Alien Meeting". The rhythm there is ambient with a mixture of sequences to tones as much diversified as the bases of the rhythm. I like Syndromeda but I found the introduction of this meeting of the extraterrestrials' first nations much too long. But Danny Budts knows how to straighten his sound ship. The structure of sequences, which we listen to like a concert of chirping of birds which stammer, of "Upside Down" emerges after a short ambiospherical moment from where emerges a language of extraterrestrial shape. The rhythm is forged by sequences which limp and of another line of pulsations, before becoming more fluid with a movement waving as an endless ascent. A very beautiful line of flute throws a surprising musicality to this rhythm of which the wall of astral voices always surrounds with an envelope of mystery. It's some good Syndromeda who fills our ears of a rhythm unique to his signature for the next 8 minutes, before that a duel between this concert of apathetic voices and of those beautiful songs of flute is wrapping "Upside Down" in a morphic cocoon. I really loved that one. "Reproduction NOT Allowed" proposes an introduction loaded of mechanical groans that more musical layers are cradling of tenderness. This sound of Syndromeda is unique and fascinates with an almost vampiric approach. Sequences bang as a metallic ball attached to a thread and which returns to bang continually on a pallet of metal. Another crawling line accompanies this static rhythm which is suddenly flooded of absent voices. Another line of sequence livens up even more the rhythm with lively and mixed jumps, giving an artificial rhythmic life to "Reproduction NOT Allowed" which will preserves its stationary approach. The same goes for the rhythmic structure of "Back to Sub-Reality"! Although more steady and presenting two lines, one rather conservative and the other one very nervous, of rhythm which is molded in the pattern of "Upside Down", except that the shrill solos replace the harmonies of the flutes. This is some pure Syndromeda and it needs more than one listening before really hooked on it. But this is the whole story for the great majority of the albums from the Belgian synthesist. If we look for something different in EM, because the sound here is completely unique, and a progressive cosmic music, “When IN-Side becomes OUT-Side” will answer to your needs. It's another beautiful sonic adventure of Syndromeda that his fans are going to savour neurons in the cosmos!Sylvain Lupari (October 17th, 2016)

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My name is Sylvain Lupari from Joliette in Quebec (Canada). I’m known as Phaedream all over the Internet since the beginning of 2000 where I started to write reviews. In 2005, I joined the French Webzine Guts of Darkness and on August 2010 I created a Blog, Synth & Sequences, which has reached the point of 1 000,000 visitors on February 2017 where I also wrote my 1354th review. In French and in English, I wrote more than reviews of EM albums.
This Blog is a huge success and reference about the music which sets my mind free over the years. Too many chronicles, so I have to split this Blog in several sections. Robert Schroeder is the first to welcome my thoughts on Webpress.
So, welcome to this part of my Blog Synth&Sequences which is devoted to the music, the tones and sounds of Aachen’s own Robert Schroeder.
Here you will find informations about his career and discography and latest news as well as deep reviews about his music, his albums.
My only wish is to guide you through his impressive career and may I suggest to visit regularly my Blog Synth & Sequences for more updates on EM.